


Santa On Speed Dial

by JetGirl1832, tomatopudding



Series: We the People of an Unconventional Life Style [7]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas, F/M, Family, Fluff, Gen, Holidays, M/M, Thanksgiving, santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-10-06 12:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17345213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JetGirl1832/pseuds/JetGirl1832, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tomatopudding/pseuds/tomatopudding
Summary: Philip Schuyler tells a small fib to his grandchildren  that may gone a little too far, fortunately he can make it up to them on Christmas Eve.





	Santa On Speed Dial

Thanksgiving dinner was long over and for the most part the Schuyler household was very quiet. Except for Philip Schuyler who was keeping himself busy with his grandchildren. At two years old, Angie didn’t really have the attention span to stay focused on one thing for too long and she kept going from one toy to another as her whim took her. Little Pip was content to offer his grandfather one book after another, occasionally the same book multiple times. Not that Philip minded, he would read Horton Hears a Who however many times the little guy asked him to. 

He was pleased that they’d all come up from the city for the holidays and they were already making plans for Christmas. He had always loved the feeling that came from having family over for the holidays, it filled the house and his heart with so much warmth. 

 

“Can you read this?” Pip grabbed a book, it was “Twas the Night Before Christmas.”

Philip let out a laugh, “I think it’s a little early for this.”

“This one,” Pip insisted. 

Philip had wonder who had taught Pip that Christmas started right when Thanksgiving ended. If he had to guess, he would say John. Alex was pretty indifferent to Christmas and while Eliza enjoyed it, it was more for the family aspect than anything else, just like Philip. So by process of elimination that left John.

“Alright,” Philip shifted on the couch, “we’ll read this one.”

At some point while he was reading, Angie’s attention was caught as well (she seemed to like the tone and rhythm of the rhymes) and when she scooted closer, he picked her up off the floor and onto his lap.

“And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose,” Philip continued to read as the story reached it’s end. It brought memories back of how he and Catherine would gather the girls and Sky on Christmas Eve and read the same poem.

“But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

“Grampa,” Pip said, “what happens if my letter to Santa gets lost? How will he know what I want for Christmas?”

“Santa always knows,” Philip replied offhandedly, “he has ways and he always knows.”

Pip frowned for a moment, but then he seemed to accept that answer and leaned against Philip. 

“Read it again?”

 

Philip chuckled, “Alright I’ll read it one more time.”

As he was reading, Philip had a thought about a joke that he could make. A harmless joke, really. When he finished the book, Philip closed it with finality. 

“How do you think Santa must feel after spending all night flying to all the different houses in the world?” he asked his grandson.

The four year old had a very serious look on his face as he pondered Philip’s question.

“Happy,” he said finally, “for giving people presents.”

“What about tired?” Philip asked, “Do you feel tired when you stay awake for too long?”

Pip nodded, “When I don’t have a nap.”

“And Santa has to stay up all night,” Philip prompted, “without a nap or anything.”

Pip’s little eyes widened almost comically, “He’s gotta be sooooo tired, Grampa!”

 

“You’ve got that right Pip,” Philip nodded.

“Let’s leave daddy’s coffee not milk!” Pip suggested. 

Philip had to stop himself from bursting out laughing.

“I think he’ll need more than one cup of coffee,” Philip replied.

“Like what?” Pip asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Perhaps a vacation?” Philip proposed, “after all Santa has been doing this for a very long time.”

“A vacation...” the boy repeated slowly. 

“I heard from a friend of mine who knows Rudolph,” Philip continued, “and she said that Rudolph said that he heard Mrs. Clause talking to Santa about canceling Christmas this year.”

At that Pip let out a gasp, “No Christmas?!?” His brown eyes were wide.

Even Angie who hadn’t been listening to closely turned to look at Philip.

“Just for this year,” Philip promised, but Pip wasn’t convinced. 

Angie could obviously sense his distress, her brow furrowing and her lower lip starting to wobble. Philip realized he may have now been in to deep, he hadn’t anticipated this sort of reaction.

“I’ll tell you what, though,” Philip said, trying to think on his feet, “Santa and I are such good friend, why don’t I call him up? Maybe I can convince him to change his mind.”

 

Pip sniffled slightly, “‘Kay.”

“I’ll be right back,” Philip promised, setting Angie back on the carpet with her toys and getting up. 

In the archway of the living room, John was leaning against the wall with a small smile on his face. 

“Nice save,” he said with a chuckle, “that could have been a disaster.”

 

Philip let out a sigh, “Has he always been so serious?” 

“Blame Alex for that tendency,” John smirked.

 

Philip huffed a snort of amusement. 

 

“You’d just better hope a call to the North Pole isn’t to costly,” John added.

 

—————

Of course, Philip’s little prank didn’t do any lasting damage and he soon found himself surrounded by even more family than before when Christmas came around. Not only had Alex, Eliza, and John come back with the kids, but Peggy was home from university and Angelica had even managed to make it over from England. With Sky there as well, they were working with a full house. Catherine was thrilled.

“I’m still mad at you,” sixteen year old Sky informed his oldest sister while they placed cookies on the coffee table.

“That was twelve years ago,” Angelica rolled her eyes.

 

“Arguing on Christmas Eve?” Philip asked his eldest and youngest. 

“It’s a tradition by now,” Angelica told him breezily. 

“Ever since Angelica ruined my childhood,” Sky huffed.

“Ruined your childhood?” Angelica scoffed, “You were eight, it was about time you knew the truth.”

“No eight year old deserves to find out that Santa isn’t real,” huffed Sky, “It was on that day that my childish wonder was lost, crushed between your hands.”

“I swear that you’ve been taking drama queen lessons from Alex,” Angelica said, rolling her eyes. 

“Hey!” Alex complained from where he was helping Philip make a paper chain.

 

Alex pouted, but there wasn’t anyone there to defend his honor since both Eliza and John were helping out in the kitchen. Philip decided to head that way himself to see if he could snag a taste of any treats fresh out of the oven. When he left they were all still bickering good-naturedly and Philip thought he might have heard Angelica threaten to wrap Alex in tinsel to quotes him. Philip shook his head fondly. The kitchen was a cacophony of wonderful scents.

 

Eliza had just opened the oven door and the smell of cinnamon wafted through the air.  
Their family was definitely one that focused on the holiday desserts. Of course, they had the Schuyler family traditions for the savory part of dinner, but Catherine absolutely excelled in sweets. Eliza was pulling out a freshly baked pumpkin pie and Philip knew that there were apple and blueberry pies that would go in just in time to come out fresh and warm come desert. In addition to that, John and Peggy had their heads bent together over the kitchen table decorating gingerbread men. As he walked by he snagged a snickerdoodle off a nearby plate and popped it in his mouth.

“Phil,” Catherine scolded,” you’ll ruin your appetite.”

“With your cooking, never,” Philip assures her, “Where’s Jay?”

“He pulled babysitter duty,” Peggy told her father, her focus still intently on her gingerbread man.

 

“That poor man,” Philip laughed, knowing that since seeing their uncle was a rare treat Angie and Pip would run him ragged.

“I won’t even argue with that,” John said, “and they’re my kids.”

Philip chuckled, “Well perhaps it’ll result in mutual exhaustion,” he suggested.

As if on cue, Jay came trundling in to the kitchen. At first, Philip wasn’t sure why he was moving so slowly, but then he saw that Pip has wrapped himself around his uncle’s calf and was giggling madly as he clung on. Angie was toddling along on his other side, holding on to Jay’s pant leg for support. 

“I yield,” Jay huffed, “please, no more.”

Eliza took pity on the poor man and said, “Pip, why don’t you go help your father make paper chains in the living room?”

Pip let out and excited shout and all but ran from the room. Meanwhile, Eliza picked up Angie and gave her a cookie to nibble on. 

 

“This one has a sweet tooth almost worse than John’s,” Eliza laughed.

“Cookie!” agreed Angie, somehow managing to speak around it in her mouth.

Eliza gently kissed her daughter on top of her head. When Catherine needed another pair of hands, Eliza handed the girl to Philip. She didn’t seem to notice, too interested in her cookie to care. Even at two years old the resemblance between Eliza and Angie was striking, reminding Philip of the early days when they'd first been fostering their daughters.

 

Of course, there was a healthy dose of Alex in her, particularly in the eyes, and Philip knew that Alex doted on her. He trusted his daughter and other son-in-law to make sure that Alex didn’t spoil her too much. Especially since they had recently announced that they had a third one on the way. 

“So are you ever going to bring by that man of yours,” John asked Peggy, who turned bright red.

“We’re still figuring things out,” Peggy mumbled. 

Philip noted the smirk on John’s face.

“It’s that Stephen van Rennesaler isn’t it?” Catherine spoke up.

 

Peggy’s head shot up in surprise, “How did you know?”

“I have my ways,” Catherine grinned.

 

“I don’t even want to know,” sighed Peggy. 

 

“It was Auntie Margie, wasn’t it?” Eliza laughed.

“Of course it was,” Peggy groaned.

“In her defense, your aunt didn’t go searching out information about you,” Catherine said, “she only meant to learn about him.”

Peggy sighed, “Why can’t I just be left alone?”

 

“With this family? Impossible,” laughed Eliza. 

 

Peggy shook her head, “Well I was going to invite him for New Years, now I don’t think I will.”

 

“It’s not that bad, really,” John said, “meeting the family.”

 

Peggy gave him a sideways glance, “Sure...”

Any further conversation was interrupted by the oven letting out an insistent beep. 

“Alright everyone,” Catherine said, “that’s the forty-five minute warning for the ham, which means it’s time to get dressed for dinner.”

—————

That night after Angie and Pip were sent to bed after laying out a plate of cookies for Santa, Philip, Alex and John set to work.

“Why are we doing this again?” Alex asked.

“Leaving signs,” Philip explained. 

This was a tradition that Philip’s father had done during his childhood and that he had continued on for the girls. John’s father had apparently done some similar things during his childhood, so John was always happy to help out with the tradition. 

Philip then went to stick his boots in the soot covered fireplace. He was definitely glad that they had hardwood floors in the house and not carpet, because that way he could use his heavy boots to make footprints from the fireplace to the plate of cookies. John had already started munching on the plate of cookies.

“This is the best part,” John said, crumbs sticking to his lips.

Alex made sure to snatch a cookie for himself before John devoured them all.

“Don’t eat them all, boys,” Philip told them, “leave some for me.”

After Philip helped himself to some cookies and milk the worked on placing the presents under the tree.

The Schuyler family had never been one to hide the fact that the parents were the ones buying gifts, or at least the majority of the gifts. Eliza has brought that tradition into her own family. Each child had a small gift marked as being from Santa along with the trinkets and treats in their stockings. Anything more substantial than that was clearly marked as being from an actual person in the family. Even so, the kids each had quite a pile of gifts by the end of it. 

“Is that everything?” Alex asked.

John was just adjusting a few gifts, "I think so."

“Wonderful,” Philip said, “then maybe I can interest you two in joining Jay and the ladies in the sitting room? If I know my wife, then there should be some mulled wine on offer.”

John and Alex smiled at each other, "Well it's Christmas after all," John replied.


End file.
